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Fire Mountain
Amelia had loved Professor Donovan Lyne for a long time she should have been thrilled when he asked her to marry him. But his carless proposal was so unashamedly businesslike and hurtful that all she wanted was to sever all connection with him. But that was easier said thean done...
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 27, 2018
Thanks to Sally B, I hunted this lovely vintage title down and had an enjoyable two hours! This is a slow burn romance with a clearly besotted professor hero who is trying to ease his personal assistant heroine into thoughts of romance and marriage - but he blows it big time by making his proposal very matter-of-fact and hardly lover-like.
And poor heroine! She's been in love with the professor sincethey shipwrecked on Gilligan's Island she began working for him a year ago. But she doesn't want a marriage without passion, so she turns him down.
Hero seems to not care either way, and invites her London to find a job and meet his friends. That doesn't go the hero's way, either. The job he had in mind for her has been filled. The heroine stays with his friends and he goes off to his disused flat. Heroine expects him back to take her out to dinner, but then he cancels their dinner date. She disappointed, but isn't angry until he doesn't show up the next day to take her back home.
Heroine finds that he has collapsed in his flat from a bout of some recurring tropical illness. And - hold on to your hats - sponging ensues. Not a paragraph of sponging - but pages of it, complete with bed linen change, smoothing back hair, and the hero dreamily mentioning her perfume. Heroine stays for a week as the hero gazes longingly at her unbound hair and thrusts of her breasts against her white nightgown.
Alas, our poor repressed H/h are driven further apart when the hero offers the heroine a check for caring for him, and the heroine sees this as a big brush off. She leaves a stiff little note, and loses herself in the wilds of London. She immediately finds a job, because she is awesome as the reader realizes by now, and everyone she encounters seems to think so, too.
Soon she has an admirer (OM), a sub-let basement flat, an interesting job, a new hair cut and new glasses, etc. .
The hero sees her by chance with the OM and is angry. They have several encounters with the H/h eating their hearts out, while revealing nothing - disco music playing in the background.
All this unrequited passion has to go somewhere
This was such a fun little story. The heroine was great and the stiff hero kept showing his vulnerability when the heroine wasn't looking. The heroine met a lot of really nice people who helped her during her stay in London and her journey to Fire Mountain. The OM/OW drama was just the usual vintage silliness of who sat where and who danced with whom.
Recommended for vintage lovers.
And poor heroine! She's been in love with the professor since
Hero seems to not care either way, and invites her London to find a job and meet his friends. That doesn't go the hero's way, either. The job he had in mind for her has been filled. The heroine stays with his friends and he goes off to his disused flat. Heroine expects him back to take her out to dinner, but then he cancels their dinner date. She disappointed, but isn't angry until he doesn't show up the next day to take her back home.
Heroine finds that he has collapsed in his flat from a bout of some recurring tropical illness. And - hold on to your hats - sponging ensues. Not a paragraph of sponging - but pages of it, complete with bed linen change, smoothing back hair, and the hero dreamily mentioning her perfume. Heroine stays for a week as the hero gazes longingly at her unbound hair and thrusts of her breasts against her white nightgown.
Alas, our poor repressed H/h are driven further apart when the hero offers the heroine a check for caring for him, and the heroine sees this as a big brush off. She leaves a stiff little note, and loses herself in the wilds of London. She immediately finds a job, because she is awesome as the reader realizes by now, and everyone she encounters seems to think so, too.
Soon she has an admirer (OM), a sub-let basement flat, an interesting job, a new hair cut and new glasses, etc. .
The hero sees her by chance with the OM and is angry. They have several encounters with the H/h eating their hearts out, while revealing nothing - disco music playing in the background.
All this unrequited passion has to go somewhere
This was such a fun little story. The heroine was great and the stiff hero kept showing his vulnerability when the heroine wasn't looking. The heroine met a lot of really nice people who helped her during her stay in London and her journey to Fire Mountain. The OM/OW drama was just the usual vintage silliness of who sat where and who danced with whom.
Recommended for vintage lovers.
March 19, 2013
The hero was called The Professor too many times.
August 28, 2025
This was a little disjointed and silly, but harmless. The heroine (25) is be-speckled, prim and efficient on the surface, but fervently in love with her boss (hero) and pining in private. The hero (37) asks her to marry him after working together for almost a year, but words it as a passionless scenario, which good for her, she turns down. This gives her breathing time to find herself a little and shake up her image (thanks to the wise advice of the OM). Little pointers that the hero loves her back are inserted, and there are moments of mutual jealousy, but it was clunky. Her sister managed to really annoy me (of course the sister is very beautiful), but his friends are trying to get the couple together, which was sweet. The culmination is whacktastic.
I was going to give this 2 stars, but I liked how the heroine grew a backbone and sought her own happiness, so 3 stars.
I was going to give this 2 stars, but I liked how the heroine grew a backbone and sought her own happiness, so 3 stars.
May 13, 2021
If this were a movie I would definitely watch it😭
October 6, 2025
H and h love each other.
H isn't misogynistic.
So it's hard to fill the pages. Cue - lack of communication and uncharacteristic stupidity.
I loved the hero and the heroine but I can't stand miscommunication at SUCH a basic level.
H isn't misogynistic.
So it's hard to fill the pages. Cue - lack of communication and uncharacteristic stupidity.
I loved the hero and the heroine but I can't stand miscommunication at SUCH a basic level.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews